Government's Census hype is wasteful

Somehow, in my seven-plus decades as an American citizen, I don't recall the Census as being such an issue. This year I've seen expensive advertising on television and in the newspapers, and in the mail I received several reminders to be prompt in returning the Census form when I received it.

Well, I did respond promptly -- I filled it out the day it arrived, and put it back into the mail the very next day. Two weeks later, I received a second identical form, again telling me to fill in the blanks and return it promptly. Had I known that people in the Augusta area have never received their forms, I would have been glad to pass it on to someone.

Needless to say, I saw no reason to be counted twice, so my second form was put through my shredder! What an inefficient government we're witnessing.

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That's the Federal Government attempting to count the number of people that live in the United States. That shouldn't be too difficult, Right?

Can you possibly imagine implementing a 2700 Page Health Care Law [that no one has read], and being run by the Federal Government?
It will be a disastrous "Fire Drill," that will never end! The whole idea is extremely disturbing....not just for us, but for our children who will be the ones to experience the results of this "Great Social Experiment." And that is exactly what it is--a "crap shoot."

Our Health Care system, the best in the World, is doomed to laborious Government Bureaucracy! Why would anyone want to overhaul something that is the "best in the World?"

PLEASE Listen: It just doesn't make sense! It does NOT make sense!
What happened to our common sense, and our Father's common sense...If it ain't broke, don't fix it!! There is nothing about our Health Care System that needs to be drastically fixed.

If anyone can give me one valid reason for completely changing something that works just fine, that is the "best Health Care System in the World," the envy of every other Country in the World, [The World's leaders come to the U.S. for OUR Health Care], I will gladly listen. Wouldn't improvements here and there be better than risking the entire system with a dramatic change that we don't know will work, and we don't know if it will work better? Isn't the Risk much greater than any Benefit which MIGHT occur? I don't know about you, but that scares me a heck of a lot more than Hannibal Lecter!

And you think that I am concerned about losing our Health Care because a black man is in the White House. You ought to be ashamed of yourselves for even thinking that!

They sent me my form on March 23 asking that it be returned the next day. It asked for the identities of the people who slept in my house on April 2.
So I decided to wait until April 3 to send it in (because my crystal ball was dusty). Then I got a letter dated March 30 asking where my form was.
I sent it in April 3.
April 8 I got another letter asking where my form was.
And some of you want these people to run health care?

NAT, its Fava Beans, but funny post. Isn't the waste the US Census indicative of the waste our government if famous for? And yet, there are millions who still believe it can run our healthcare. "There is none so blind as he who WILL not see."

Ten years ago, those who are acting like this census is BRAND NEW, I wonder did they feel this way back then or here more so recently since Nov 08 and Jan 09? I don't recall the census as a bad thing in previous years? *SHRUGS*

I replied to two questions only: the number of persons living at the residence and that the residence was my permanent residence. The other "A.C.O.R.N." information for Prezbhojangles' reelection (Ha-Ha-Ha) campaign were left blank, and are not required (age, race, gender, name, telephone number, etc) under the census regulations.

I don't care who you are. If you don't think the amount of money the gov't has spent advertising the census is wasteful, then you need to get your head examined. The celebrity filled commercials, the pre-census letters. Millions of dollars completely wasted.

How did a letter about the census inspire comments about healthcare reform? I don't care if you fill out the census or not; if you don't, your state just loses representation in Congress. As for healthcare reform, you might as well get over that--it's the law of the land. Deal with it!

i dont know about you but under the headline on the census form for race was white..i am confused i am not white, a piece of paper is white..so i filled out under other **AMERICAN..WHY CANT WE BE AMERICAN **this is the cocept of the great melting pot**continuing being classfied by gender or race will only lead to greater division...

I can see the need for how many people, race, gender and age there are in the U.S., but I see no need for them to know your name. To me that is proof right there that this isn't just a census. It is a set up.

They send out several forms because it's much cheaper to send out a bunch of extra forms to all of us than to send actual census-takers to the homes of the people who lost the first form. You people could have figured that out for yourselves.

Wow...how did you righties manage to turn a LTE into an ongoing (and yet, futile) rant about HCR?
Additionally, Nat, there are several things wrong with your post. 1) There are *lots* of things wrong with the health care system as is exists today. The HCR bill isn't perfect (by a wide margin actually), but it's better than doing nothing. 2) What we have is not "the best health care system in the world". In fact, the World Health Organization ranks the U.S. as #37 in the world, behind such economic powerhouses as Malta, Luxembourg, Cyprus, and Chile. Additionally, larger countries rank above the U.S. as well, including France, the U.K. and yes, Canada. So to assert that we here in the United States have "the best health care system in the world" is just, well, simply not true. By extension, I highly doubt that many, if any at all, of the 36 countries ranked above us in that list "envy" our health care system.
Back to the topic however, you righties don't send in your census forms. When you are under-represented in Congress, infrastructure funds, etc etc, you'll have no right to complain.

The big O stated the 2010 census is important in order to redistrict the US for voting purposes; we call it gerrymandering, which is illegal! This is also the reason the big O wants the census to be carried out under his watchful eye. Consequently, you have the hype on returning the form.

The World Health Organization ranks U.S. Healthcare as number 37 in the world. But another poster scorns and says the World Healthcare Organization is wrought with ideology and false assumptions.

But take notice the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development ( OECD ) a group of the world's 30 richest nations, has released Health Care Data for 2009. U. S. health care was rated in their 37th place too.

Gas, please... the OECD report is over 10 yrs old. The head of the organization is quoted in the Wall Street Journal as saying he wishes it would go away. And, yes, it too was flawed. Tons of info available on these reports, if anyone cares, they can read them and decide for themselves.

Grouse, and SnidleyWhiplash: These World Health Rankings that you refer to rank France, UK, and Canada, "socialized medicine systems," above the Health Care provided by the U.S.

PLEASE answer this one question truthfully, and I promise I will acknowledge these World Rankings from now on: If today, you had 3 months to live unless you receive the proper Medical Treatment, and you had the State Medical Insurance available to you from France, UK, Canada or the U.S.
Where would you choose to be treated? A simple Question.

Please give me simple Answer. I am still waiting for the answer to my first collective Question: Give me one valid reason why our Health Care System should be completely overhauled?

And FacetheMusic, I am still very concerned about Health Care because I am seriously thinking about voting for candidates who want to repeal the Health Care Law, or usurp the funding required to implement this socialized system....so I'm not over it.

Your form will be thrown out. Thanks for wasting our tax dollars. It's people like you, that for some inexplicable reason think that the census will be used for a reelection campaign, that drive up the cost of the census.

Let me inform you of something, Nat the Cat. After the census is completed, the Bureau gather up the raw data, in generalities, but in terms of your name, age, etc- that takes years.

And the reelection campaign is already gearing up, they don't need the census.

So no, the census will not be used for Obama's or any other person's election.

Did you know that one of the reasons why the US ranks 37th in health care- is that we, as a nation, have such good care that preemies and high-risk births- that have high death rates and that would not survive a live birth in other countries- actually pulls down our standings?

It's compared to the last census to see if what you are saying matches the previous census.

It's to prevent fraud- if you didn't identify people, there would be millions of "ghosts"

It's to aid the US in times of war- they want to know who's available to fight, which was the main reason for taking a census back when the country was founded

Heads of households have been identified by name since the first one, in 1790. As the population increased, duplicate names became more and more common, and it became harder and harder to distinguish who people were. It also didn't tell the goverment much of anything. Since 1850, all residents have been listed by name. The censes before 1840 are pretty much useless.

They wanted to track marriages and female mortality rates. There was no way to tell if a woman died and the man remarried, before 1850.

If you were a census taker, unless you listed people by name, how would you know who you've already counted and who you haven't?